- Early Mid-Season
- 500 Chill Hours
- Widely Adaptable
- Orange Freestone
- Early Harvest Season
- Long Season of Bloom
- Resists Late Frost
- Old-Fashioned Apricot Flavor
- Welcome Fresh Eating
- Excellent Baking, Canning, Freezing
- Reliable and Productive
- Attractive, Long-Lasting Spring Blooms
- Partially Self-Pollinating Bigger Crops With Another Variety Nearby
Mmm…who can resist the taste of a freshly picked Apricot grown in your backyard? These days, people not only crave this richly rewarding flavor experience; they also want to shore up food security.
Tomcot Apricot (Prunus armeniaca ‘Tomcot’) is experiencing a rapid rise in popularity with home gardeners in the historically more marginal climate zones. This recommended variety offers unrivaled early fruit and is proven to be a dependable setter.
Plant with a partner to grow a large, reliable harvest of beautifully large, sweet, orange fruit. Both firm and lustrous, pretty Tomcots feature a trace of blush that develops on the side that is exposed to the sun.
With a long bloom period, this is a dependable setting variety. Tomcot is gaining traction in the home garden market because people want fruit set to occur faithfully year after year.
With sweet flesh and firm flavor, Tomcot fruit is also easy to prepare. The freestone pit that pulls away cleanly from the flesh and really helps to speed up the process.
Go ahead and enjoy your fill of fresh fruit, then slice the rest to can or freeze for summertime taste in the middle of winter. Tomcot starts off your apricot season with plenty of fruit, especially if you plant a pollination partner nearby.
Tomcot fruit tree is partly self-fruitful, and will produce larger crops if cross-pollinated by another variety. Early mid-season Tomcat Apricot will be ready for harvest, 2-3 weeks before Wenatchee Moorpark and days before Goldstrike and Goldbar.
How to Use Tomcot Apricot in the Landscape
Squeeze all the value you can from your investment in property. Put your sunshine and soil to work growing food for your family and friends.
Add early Tomcot Apricot with a mid-season Moorpark and late-season Autumn Glo in an orchard planting. You’ll love having a long season of fresh fruit with successive harvests from your trio of trees.
Keep them as compact as you like with good high-density planting summer pruning techniques. Be sure to check out our Garden Blog and videos online to learn more about small space gardening!
Children love learning about fruit…and you’ll appreciate knowing exactly how your crops were grown. You might just be surprised at how pretty a Tomcot Apricot tree is with showy spring blooms and gorgeously glossy fruit that hangs from the branches like jewels.
Edible Landscaping is a valuable garden trend that is only getting more popular. Call your Tomcot an accent tree and place where you’ll see the developing harvest.
Gain beauty, food and a killer conversation starter all in one! Plant a few fruiting trees in a mulched island bed “stolen” from the front lawn.
Tomcots make excellent preserves, pies, smoothies, and fruit leather. Try them in fresh salads, and chop them to include in special salsas and sauces.
Consider selling excess fruit at farmer’s markets. With firm flesh, these great-tasting apricots ship and store well.
Tips for Care
Give them a planting site with full sun, well-drained soil and good air circulation. Apricots love all day sun, but need at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.
Tomcot’s blooms display some tolerance to spring frost periods. Avoid planting in low-lying hollows to maximize the chances the blooms will survive short, mild frosts.
Apply Nature Hills Root Booster while planting for “life-long” symbiotic support to the tiny feeder roots. Add a three-inch layer of mulch over the root system, and spread it out three feet past the canopy.
Provide a moderate amount of water. Create a consistent watering schedule, especially during fruit development.
In late fall, prune to sculpt your tree into a goblet-shape. Select wide-spreading lateral branches that are held 45 degree angles as a strong support for the weight of your harvest.
In years with heavy fruit set, thin the fruit early on to allow full-size development. Allow four inches between each piece of fruit.
Keep your tree smaller by tip pruning for size control. Make this an annual summer prune for high density planting.
